by Rick Atkinson
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Product Description
"Intimate, vivid, and well-informed . . . On the field of battle where more than 770 journalists were 'embedded,' Atkinson stood apart as one of the very rare war correspondents who are also fine military historians."
—The New York Times Book Review
For soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division, the road to Baghdad began with a midnight flight out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in late February 2003. For Rick Atkinson, who would spend nearly two months covering the division for The Washington Post, the war in Iraq provided a unique opportunity to observe today's U.S. Army in combat. Now, in this extraordinary account of his odyssey with the 101st, Atkinson presents an intimate and revealing portrait of the soldiers who fight the expeditionary wars that have become the hallmark of our age.
At the center of Atkinson's drama stands the compelling figure of Major General David H. Petraeus, described by one comrade as "the most competitive man on the planet." Atkinson spent virtually all day every day at Petraeus's elbow in Iraq, where he had an unobstructed view of the stresses, anxieties, and large joys of commanding 17,000 soldiers in combat. And all around Petraeus, we see the men and women of a storied division grapple with the challenges of waging war in an unspeakably harsh environment.
With the eye of a master storyteller, a brilliant military historian puts us right on the battlefield. In the Company of Soldiers is a compelling, utterly fresh view of the modern American soldier in action.
Amazon.com Review
The advent of embedded reporters in the opening days of the 2003 US war on Iraq meant a more direct and personal point of view than battlefield coverage has historically offered. Rick Atkinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for An Army at Dawn, an account of combat in North Africa during World War II, traveled with the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army from its deployment out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky through its entry into Baghdad. The result, In the Company of Soldiers, is a thoroughly engrossing look at the strategies, personalities, and struggles of waging modern warfare. Much of Atkinson's focus falls on the division's leader, the hugely competitive and charismatic Major General David Petraeus, who seems to guide his troops through Iraq by sheer force of will. Atkinson devotes most of his time to the senior commanders, but the loss of the G.I. perspective, while disappointing, is outweighed by Atkinson's access to the minds of the brass who must navigate an Iraq whose citizens were not nearly as happy as military planners had hoped and who offered resistance in ways other than what the Americans had prepared for. While plenty has been written about the American military effort in Iraq, Atkinson's perspective, combined with a direct, economical writing style, allows him to present sides to the war not often seen or considered: long periods of waiting punctuated with mad scrambles to apply gas masks, fretting over how to pack all necessary supplies into tiny kits, dealing with dust storms that can ground state of the art attack helicopters, and reading the irreverent yet shrewdly observant graffiti left by American soldiers. In the Company of Soldiers lionizes the American military officers but it neither condemns nor offers unqualified praise to the US effort in Iraq. Indeed, the disturbing omens of chaos hinted at soon after the invasion began in the spring of 2003 would come into sharper relief when the book was published a year later. --John Moe
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Impressive Overview of the Tactical Preparation for Modern War, 2008-10-18
Award winning author Rick Atkinson has produced an impressive story of the many considerations a modern commander must endure in order to lead a successful campaign.
If nothing else, many readers should be interested in this account due to the close personal account of then Major General David Patraeus. Atkinson was an embedded journalist with the 101st Airborne Division, which Patraeus commanded at the beginning of the war. Patraeus deals effectively with issues ranging from changing leadership directives to logistical delays i9n moving his unit from FT Campbell, KY, to Kuwait for the initial invasion.
I highly recommend this book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Best Book ever, 2008-09-07
In the Company of Soldiers is an excellent book; very gripping. It shows that Gen. Petraeus is one of the best military leaders in American history.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 War, 2008-06-12
An excellent book. Rick Atkinson really knows how to research a subject. To read his books is like being there
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Good, 2008-03-30
Atkinson does a very good job of objective history writing even though in this case his overall perspective was limited to a specific combate area. He did stray a little with his personnel thoughts but is still an excellent writer of military history.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
"Tell me how this ends!", 2008-02-25
As a campaign overview this is a useful book, written by someone who was in Iraq during the 2003 invasion and had access to the command echelon of the 101st Airborne Division. I decided to read this book mainly because I wanted to have a more complete picture of General David Petreaus who was the CG of the 101st in 2003. Mr Atckinson does not fail in this aspect and, although he refers many times to himself and his problems following the division in battle, he gives a nice account of the campaign, more on the brigade and division levels than to the company and battalion ones. The impression someone has after reading this book, is that the victory the US armed forces achieved against an "army of half a million with 11,000 generals and 15,000 colonels" was not exaclty a masterpiece of military triumph. In 2003 there were also the first signs of the failure that followed regarding the insurgency and the mounting US and Coalition casualties. The book contains some very good maps which help a lot to follow the action and some black and white photos. Overall, a nice effort of first hand account of a modern campaign with all the pros and cons that this entails.
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